Chinese news sites claim Apple’s iWatch would use Intel chips and provide a
new interface for the best-selling iPhone.

Makers of Apple accessories have already raised more than $10m to make a watch using the firm’s iPod Nano, but Apple has changed the shape of the latest Nano, leading some to suggest it could now be making its own watch.

Chinese news site TGBUS reported that sources in the supply chain said “Apple is building” a device using Intel chips and new low-power Bluetooth technology. A 1.5” touchscreen would be used to control the phone, and Apple’s voice assistant Siri would also allow users to control the watch using voice commands. It claims the device could launch within the next six months.

Although similar Chinese news sites have sometimes provided indications of Apple’s intentions, they have seldom provided infallible information. Manufacturers also often develop technology in the hope that Apple will adopt it.

Venturebeat suggested that the iPad-maker was unlikely to be working on a basic watch. “It needs to be much more than a watch, and much more than a way to communicate with the device that is already just a few inches away in your pocket,” argued John Koetsier. “Would the company that reinvented the computer, the phone, and the way we consume media be aiming so low?”

The Pebble watch, a Kickstarter project, aimed to raise just $100,000 for development but instead raised more than $10milion, indicating high customer demand for a watch using Apple’s interface. A third-party wrist strap called iWatch is also already on sale.

Google is already working on Glass, a headset with a screen that projects information from the internet to add information to what the wearer can see. Apple itself, however, has not previously been known to be interested in ‘wearable technology’, despite the popularity of fitness devices such as the Nike+Fuelband and Fitbit or Fitbug.

Pebble claims to be “the first watch built for the 21st century. It's infinitely customizable, with beautiful downloadable watchfaces and useful internet-connected apps. Cyclists can use Pebble as a bike computer, accessing the GPS on your smartphone to display speed, distance and pace data. Runners get a similar set of data displayed on their wrist. Use the music control app to play, pause or skip tracks on your phone with the touch of a button.”

Although Apple’s watch is rumoured to do more than existing devices because it allows phone calls, Gizmag’s Will Shanklin said the rumour “smells fishy”.

“Even if Siri-powered accessories are eventually coming, though, this rumor is suspect. ‘Long-shot’ doesn't begin to describe the odds,” he said.

Shanklin added, however, “Even if this rumor is bogus, though, wearable tech products are waiting in the wings.”

Rene Ritchie wrote on iMore that “Given the popularity of the nano-as-watch, and of other connected watch-style devices, like the television, it's hard to imagine that Apple doesn't have a project or prototype or several in the labs. Also like the television, that's a far cry from going to market with an final, polished product.”